The present invention relates to a body fat determining device which can be small-sized.
Conventionally, attention has been given to a body fat ratio as the standard of a fat amount in a body in respect of maintenance of health, and a body fat ratio has been measured in order to prevent adult diseases and the like. Examples of a device for measuring such a body fat ratio include a body fat determining device. The body fat determining device has the following schematic structure.
The body fat determining device is provided with four electrodes for measuring an impedance of a human body of a subject. More specifically, a pair of current path forming electrodes for forming a current path between two points of a body by flowing a constant current and a pair of measuring electrodes for measuring a voltage between two points in the formed current path are provided such that the impedance of the human body can be detected by a contact of the hands of the subject and the like.
Moreover, the body fat determining device comprises an operation switch necessary for inputting individual data such as a height of the subject, a weight thereof and the like, a display unit for displaying these data, and a circuit element such as a CPU for performing an operation to calculate a body fat ratio from the impedance of the human body and the individual data.
The circuit element and the four electrodes (which will be hereinafter referred to as an xe2x80x9celectrode groupxe2x80x9d) are connected as a circuit such that the impedance of the human body measured through the electrodes can be processed as data for calculating a body fat ratio, and can be caused to function as a body fat determining device.
As an example of a conventional body fat determining device, circuit elements other than the electrode group are mounted and collected into an electronic circuit board such as a printed board and each electrode of the electrode group is provided as a separate member which is physically independent of the electronic circuit board. In such a body fat determining device, each electrode and other circuit elements have been connected through a wiring such as a cable to be connected to necessary portions of the electronic circuit board.
Accordingly, it has been required that such a body fat determining device is provided with the electrode group as an independent member in addition to the electronic circuit board on which various circuit elements for functioning as the body fat determining device are mounted. For this reason, a space for providing such an electrode group should be required, and furthermore, a wiring for connecting the electrode group to other circuit elements, a support table for supporting the electrode group on the body fat determining device and the like should be provided. In order to perform a work for manufacturing the body fat determining device, moreover, a large number of members should be provided, and furthermore, it has been necessary to take a working man-hour for connecting the electrode group to other circuit elements through a wiring. Consequently, the manufacturing cost of the body fat determining device has also been increased.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a body fat determining device which can reduce a space required for members constituting the body fat determining device to be small-sized and can reduce a working man-hour and manufacturing cost for manufacture.
The present invention provides a body fat determining device comprising an electrode group including a first current path forming electrode and a second current path forming electrode for forming a current path together with the first current path forming electrode, and a first measuring electrode and a second measuring electrode for measuring an impedance together with the first measuring electrode, and an electronic circuit board on which a circuit element is provided and a body case, wherein the electrode included in the electrode group is formed on the electronic circuit board, and the electrode group is formed with a face with which a subject comes in contact exposed to an outside of the body case in such a manner that the subject can come in contact to measure his (her) impedance.
According to the body fat determining device, it is not necessary to provide the electrode as a physically independent member on the electronic circuit board. More specifically, the electronic circuit generally includes a conductor portion for forming a circuit pattern and an insulating material portion. By scraping off the insulating material covering the conductor portion to expose the conductor portion to the outside in a portion of the electronic circuit board where the electrode group is to be formed, the conductor portion thus exposed is formed as the electrode on the electronic circuit board.
Consequently, the space for providing the electrode is eliminated. Moreover, it is not necessary to use a wiring for connecting the electrode to other circuit elements, a support table for supporting the electrode on the body fat determining device and the like. Consequently, the body fat determining device can be small-sized. Thus, the working man-hour can also be reduced for the manufacture of the body fat determining device, and furthermore, the manufacturing cost can be cut down.
In particular, in the case where the electronic circuit board on which the electrode is formed is provided with a circuit element constituting the body fat determining device, the size of the body fat determining device can be reduced still more and the number of members can also be decreased.
Moreover, in the case where the electronic circuit board on which the electrode is formed and another electronic circuit board on which circuit elements constituting the body fat determining device other than the electrode formed on the electronic circuit board are provided have a multi stage structure, it is possible to provide a necessary circuit element in the space between the electronic circuit board and the another electronic circuit board. Consequently, in the case where the body fat determining device cannot be increased in a transverse direction along the face of the electronic circuit board on which the element is to be provided, the necessary element can be provided by effectively utilizing the space in the vertical direction in which the electronic circuit board and the another electronic circuit board are stacked in multiple stages.
Furthermore, in the case where the face of the electrode included in the electrode group with which the subject comes in contact constitutes a dent-shaped portion on an outer face of the body fat determining device, the subject can stably come in contact with the electrode along the dent to measure the impedance of the human body. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the reproducibilities of the measurement from being deteriorated with a variation in the area of the electrode with which the subject comes in contact every time the body fat ratio is measured. Thus, the impedance of the human body can be measured stably.
Moreover, the body fat determining device can be formed to include a first face and a second face opposite to the first face. In such a case, all the electrodes included in the electrode group can be provided on the first face or the second face, the first current path forming electrode and the second current path forming electrode can be provided on the first face in the body fat determining device, the first measuring electrode and the second measuring electrode can be provided on the second face in the body fat determining device, the first current path forming electrode and the first measuring electrode can be provided on the first face, and the second current path forming electrode and the second measuring electrode can be provided on the second face.
Furthermore, in the case in which all or a part of operation switches provided in the body fat determining device for inputting individual data on the subject can also be used as all or a part of the electrodes included in the electrode group, the number of the members constituting the body fat determining device can be reduced and the body fat determining device can be small-sized.
Moreover, in the case where the electronic circuit board on which the electrode included in the electrode group is formed and circuit elements other than the electrode formed on the electronic circuit board are packaged by a mold, the circuit element and the like are collected into the mold. Consequently, the size and weight of the body fat determining device can be reduced.
Furthermore, in the case in which the body fat determining device is of a card type and the operation switch for inputting the individual data on the subject is formed on the first face of the body fat determining device of the card type, it is possible to obtain a portable body fat determining device which can easily be carried like a card. Thus, a body fat ratio can usually be measured easily.
Moreover, a printed board can be used as the electronic circuit board on which the electrode group is formed. In addition, a flexible printed circuit can also be used.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a body fat determining device.
FIG. 2(a) is a top view showing the body fat determining device.
FIG. 2(b) is a front view showing the body fat determining device.
FIG. 2(c) is a sectional view taken along the line Axe2x80x94A in FIG. 2(a).
FIG. 2(d) is a sectional view taken along the line Bxe2x80x94B in FIG. 2(a).
FIG. 3 is a view showing a printed board on which an electrode is formed.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the body fat determining device.
FIG. 5 is a view showing an example of the shape of the electrode and the like.
FIG. 6 is a view showing an example in which an electronic circuit board is stacked in multiple stages.
FIG. 7 is a view showing an example in which packaging is carried out by a mold.